Taught by
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Taught by
Annette ArmstrongChapter 1 began by establishing that Jeremiah was called by the LORD as a prophet in the days of the last few kings of Judah before their exile from Jerusalem. The kingdom from the North would bring the LORD’s judgment to Judah.
Chapter 2 The LORD speaks of Israel’s birth and relationship with Him and then her rejection of Him by embracing and actively seeking worship of false gods.
Chapter 3 Israel and Judah’s rejection of the LORD as their only God is compared to an unfaithful wife. The LORD still desires repentance for this sin. The LORD desires faithfulness in actions not in words alone.
Chapter 4 A call of repentance has been sent out to Judah and it has been rejected, as Judah still looks to others to save her from coming judgment and does not turn to the LORD. The destruction of Judah in response to this rejection is done by the LORD--but not a complete destruction of Judah.
Verse 1 The LORD says to search in Jerusalem for even one man who does justice or seeks for truth. If one man could be found the LORD would pardon Jerusalem.
This should bring to mind the words spoken from Abraham to God in Genesis 18.
Verse 20 The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
Verse 23 Abraham surmises the LORD will find great wickedness and asks if He will judge the righteous along with the wicked.
Verse 25 Abraham declares the LORD is the Judge of all the earth and He can only deal justly.
Abraham negotiates from fifty righteous to only ten righteous needed for the LORD to call off His judgment. The LORD agrees if ten righteous are found then He will not bring judgment.
The LORD knew there were not ten righteous and that judgment would come on Sodom.
The judgment sent on Sodom was a complete destruction.
The LORD is more gracious in His dealings with Jerusalem as He says if only one who does justice and seeks for truth is found He will pardon Jerusalem.
The LORD knows the rebellion in Jerusalem and He will bring judgment.
The LORD has repeated several times that though He will judge His people He will not bring a complete judgment, unlike what was seen in earlier times like the ‘great flood’ and the destruction of Sodom.
These verses combine the judgment of the ancient world, or the flood, and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of complete destruction.
Jer. 5:1 Makes the connection that when there is no repentance there will be judgment.
Verse 2 The LORD accuses the people of Jerusalem of speaking words and then following that with “As the LORD lives.” They use these words to swear to things that are not true.
These have become just socially acceptable repeated words with no value attached to the meaning of the words.
A modern example can be seen in those who recite what is called the Lord’s Prayer and yet do not have any concept of what the words mean. They are just repeated words that make people feel better about themselves.
Verse 3 The LORD desires to see truth spoken. The LORD has tried to warn them, but they have not changed their ways and have only hardened their hearts away from repentance.
Verse 4-5 The LORD first began to reveal that those considered poor were without the knowledge of God’s ways; but then He looked at those who had knowledge of the ways of the LORD and yet were living the same as those who had not known His ways.
With great knowledge comes more responsibility to live out God’s ways and guilt when they are not lived out.
Verse 6 Because there is no one with repentant hearts the LORD is sending judgment. They will die in the forests and the deserts and as they leave their cities.
Three predatory animals: a lion, wolf, and leopard are used to describe how judgment will come on Judah. The lion is known for its overwhelming power to bring down its prey. The wolf is known for the ability to tear apart its prey and the leopard is known for great speed in taking down its prey. The power and brutality and speed of the coming judgment on Judah is displayed here.
In Judah the apostasies are too great! Both in Sodom as well as Jerusalem there is a point in which the LORD has had enough.
Verse 7 The LORD asks why a pardon from judgment would be asked for, as His sons have left Him and instead swear by false gods. The LORD provided but the false gods were given the credit for the blessings.
Verse 8 These people were given everything they needed and yet they looked at what others had with longing. The comparison to a horse being lusty alludes to the sex drive of the animal knowing no boundaries.
Verse 9 The LORD asks the people how they think the LORD cannot punish His people.
Verse 10 The picture of the commonly seen agriculture of the day is used when describing the vine rows being destroyed. That which was above the ground is removed not the plant below the ground--the root.
The repeated promise is that of not bringing a complete destruction of the LORD’s people.
Verse 11 The LORD brings His accusation now against both Israel and Judah as they have dealt in evil ways against their LORD.
Verse 12 The LORD describes exactly what His people did to Him: they lied about Him.
They said the LORD would not bring judgment in misfortune or war or famine on them.
They deny that He is LORD when they say such things.
The people of God had entered into a covenant with Him in the wilderness. The terms of the covenant were very clear. Follow the Law and receive blessing; or disobey the Law and there will be judgment.
When the people in Jeremiah’s day say judgment and misfortune won’t come, they are saying what is contrary to the revealed word of God to them.
Verse 13 The LORD says the prophets’ words were like the wind with no substance of the LORD’s actual words to His people. They will be taken away just like the wind.
The word ‘ruah’ is translated as wind here, but in other places is translated as spirit, which can be seen as the LORD revealing the spirit of these men to be like wind and not the spirit of the LORD.
Verse 14 The LORD said because they spoke words declaring judgment would not come those false words will be demonstrated as fire from their mouths. The picture here is like a dragon breathing out fire and burning what is in front of it. Their false words are what causes the destruction of the people to be so grievous. They do not take warning steps to avoid judgment.
It is like they silenced the tornado warning system, and the destruction will be great.
Verse 15 The LORD declares He is the one bringing an ancient nation, speaking an unfamiliar language, against His people.
Verse 16 They will have an unquenchable desire for death, and they will all be warriors.
Verse 17 This nation will take everything Israel has: food, children, wealth and land including the cities they have relied on to protect them.
Verse 18 The LORD promises again He will not bring complete destruction on His people, like the complete destruction alluded to in chapter four of the flood event of Genesis and then the potential connection of the destruction of Sodom.
There have been many people groups throughout the history of the world who have ceased to exist as a separate people. Two ironic examples would be the Babylonians and Assyrians that were used by God to bring judgment on His people, and no longer exist in our modern world as a distinct people group. This will never be the fate of Israel.
Verse 19 The LORD speaks poetic justice as He declares in answer to the question from His people as to why the LORD our God has brought this judgment against them. “You wanted to serve other gods in your land so I will now have you serve strangers outside your land.”
Verse 20 The LORD tells Jeremiah to speak His words to Judah, using repetitive and strong words: Declare, Proclaim, Hear. There is a strong sense of the intensity the LORD desires Judah to hear and to understand His words.
Verse 21 The LORD says His people are foolish and senseless in that they have physical eyes and ears but they can’t truly see or hear the truth.
These are also words from Psalm 115.
Those who make idols become like their idols.
In Jer. 5:21 The LORD says His people who have worshiped these idols have become like these idols.
Verse 22 If this people knew truth they would fear and tremble in their current condition before the LORD.
The LORD uses the reality He has created in the natural world of sand as a barrier to water, being prevented from invading the land He has set aside.
The water will never prevail and come on the land because this is an eternal separation the LORD has established.
What the LORD separates from Himself can’t come to Him by its determined path.
Verse 23-24 Judah has hardened their hearts to the LORD by not recognizing their need to fear rejecting this God who controls the rain that produces their physical provision of food.
Verse 25 The people’s sin has brought about a ceasing of the LORD’s provision of these life-sustaining rains.
The sin causing the LORD to remove these blessings from Judah is detailed in Hosea 2.
Verse 8 The LORD’s people used His provision to worship Baal.
The LORD emphasized not only did His people not recognize everything was from Him, but they added insult by using what He provided to engage in their idolatry.
Jer. 5:26 Wicked men are in the nation of Judah capturing the unsuspecting.
Verse 27 The picture of a bird cage overflowing with birds is used to demonstrate how their own houses are filled with an overflow of deceit.
A regular use of a bird cage would be with just the right number of birds for the size of the cage. When too many birds are put in there is chaos, too much waste, noise and disorder.
They have taken by deceit what is not theirs and lifted themselves into power and wealth.
Verse 28 These wicked men do not provide for the orphans or protect the rights of the poor and this is described as excelling at wickedness. They take what should be given to the orphans and the poor for themselves.
In our day this is displayed in acts of organizations taking funds under the guise of helping the needy and yet when the truth is known, the money taken only enriches a few liars and charlatans.
Verse 29 The LORD says, “How can I not judge a people and a nation that does these things?”.
Verse 30-31 The LORD defines now what He calls an appalling and horrible thing and what meets this standard for the LORD is when the prophets lie to the people and the priests rule without God’s direction. The exclamation from the LORD is that His people love this state of events.
The scriptures tell us what it looks like for the prophets to lie to the people.
These prophets will not expose the people’s iniquity; they will not call out sin as sin to God’s people.
This is unfortunately what is going on within the confines of what is called the ‘church’ today.
Pastors avoid teaching biblical declarations about sin and God’s judgment and instead focus on what they describe as God’s love and tolerance of sin and on the individual’s positive attitude or what works they can do to be more righteous.
The responsibility of a prophet is to proclaim truth to God’s people.
Prophecy must come from God and not from the desire of any man. It must be separated from what a person desires to be true and rooted in what God declares to be true.
Peter includes here the impact of the false teachers.
These teachers will bring swift destruction upon themselves.
In Jeremiah’s time, the priests were to be the teachers of the law to the people.
Jeremiah says these priests were ruling by their own authority and not by God’s authority.
The way to lead by God’s authority is to rely on God’s word. What God has given in His word should be the template for all teachers to guide God’s people to God’s ways.
In Jeremiah’s day, the people were worshipping other gods, contrary to God’s command, and it is clear the priests were not declaring what God had revealed in His Word to be the consequences of these actions.
God declared He would judge His people, yet the prophets and priests were complicit in declaring God’s judgment was not going to be brought to fruition on His people.
In Peter’s time, he says the false teachers will be led by their sensuality and greed.
This is sadly practiced in the church today and is practically plastered in our modern news headlines.
There will be judgment brought on the false prophets and teachers in God’s timing.
The scriptures give clear delineation for how to test the spirit of prophets and teachers.
Jesus Christ came in the flesh.
Jesus Christ was sent from God.
Jer. 5:31 The conclusion is that God’s people love this false prophecy and false teaching. Instead of being repulsed by this repugnant teaching, they actually love this teaching.
This teaching gives encouragement to embrace or minimize sin and its impact, instead of drawing God’s people to a conviction and repentance of sin.
Self-delusion is a common response from the heart of all men but when left in this unsaved and unregenerated state, it is devastating to that person and the world around him.
Only the Holy Spirit can bring a person to know and love truth.
We are not to be proud or arrogant that as believers we can see and hear truth. It is only because of the Holy Spirit we can discern truth.
We are not to lose heart living in the midst of a world that is turning away from the truth of God’s Word. Judgment is coming and as believers we are to warn the world so they can look to Jesus for their own salvation.
Believers are to continue to do the work of the Father and be filled with a peace that only comes from knowing Jesus: this same Jesus who will be returning for His own before the coming judgment on this current world, just like in the days of Noah and Lot.
This teaching is provided by a contributing Bible teacher who is not employed by Verse By Verse Ministry International. The Biblical perspectives beliefs and views of contributing teachers may differ, at times, from the Biblical perspectives this ministry holds.